As the breasts of a sea god’s daughter,

Swimming far down where the corpses sink

Through the dense shadowy water.

Silver and black on flank and back,

The glossy sardine mourns its head.

The red anchovy and the beetroot red,

With carrots, build a gorgeous stair—

Bronze, apoplexy and Venetian hair—

And the green pallor of the salad round

Sharpens their clarion sound.